“Individual cats are important, too,” Leafpool went on at last. “You could take an apprentice. Briarlight is already doing a great job.”
“Oh, sure!” Jayfeather lashed his tail. “Wouldn’t that just be great? One medicine cat who can’t see, and another who can’t walk. ThunderClan would be invincible!”
“I know you see much more than the rest of us,” Leafpool stated calmly. “You can’t use that as an excuse. But I’m telling you, Cinderheart deserves a different life this time. That’s why StarClan gave her a second chance. Spottedleaf said so, in my dream. I won’t let you spoil everything for her again.”
Without giving Jayfeather a chance to respond, she rose and walked away.
Jayfeather stayed beneath the tree, thoughts swirling in his head. He had to admit that Leafpool had a point: If StarClan had interfered enough to let Cinderheart have another life, he knew there must be a very good reason for it. And Yellowfang isn’t thinking straight at the moment, he reminded himself. She’s too closely caught up in the rivalries inside StarClan, and her fear of the Dark Forest.
Jayfeather returned slowly to the camp, still unsure about what he should do. Before he had even reached his den, he picked up Cinderheart’s scent and heard her paw steps approaching.
“Birchfall said you were looking for me,” she meowed. Her voice was cheerful. “Do you need me to do something?”
As clearly as if he could see, Jayfeather was aware of Leafpool’s gaze fixed on him. He took a deep breath. “Nothing important,” he told Cinderheart. “It can wait until another day.”
Chapter 10
Ivypool slid cautiously through the Dark Forest. It seemed positively crowded now, as busy as a disturbed anthill, with clusters of cats training in every clearing, racing along every path, and splashing through the sludgy river. Anxious not to be called into a training session, Ivypool clung to the shadows, her senses alert for traces of one particular cat. Hearing voices, she dived into the middle of a clump of ferns, then poked her head out warily to spot Tigerheart and Mapleshade a few tail-lengths ahead.
Ivypool felt her heart begin to pound faster. She had been terrified of Mapleshade ever since the old she-cat had almost drowned her in the river in a so-called training exercise. Now Mapleshade looked paler than ever; Ivypool’s eyes widened as she realized that she could see the tree trunks behind the she-cat’s misty shape.
But Mapleshade’s eyes still burned as she leaned close to Tigerheart. “The Dark Forest will rise up and stamp out the Clans,” she told him, her voice a spitty, rasping hiss. “StarClan will bow down to us, and the warriors who chose not to join us will be punished beyond the end of their lives.”
Horrified, Ivypool shrank back among the ferns. Tigerheart was listening intently, nodding as the old she-cat went on.
“Every cat who ever lived will know—” Suddenly Mapleshade broke off, sniffing the air. “I smell fear,” she growled. Ivypool’s heart almost stopped as the pale she-cat’s baleful gaze swept past the ferns where she crouched, shivering. “Who has come here with insufficient courage to face their Clanmates?”
Mapleshade swung her massive, scarred head around, still sniffing. Then she hauled herself to her paws and stalked in the opposite direction from Ivypool, pushing through dead, slimy brambles. Ivypool stayed very still, trying not to let her breath stir the fern fronds around her.
“Snowtuft!” Mapleshade snarled. “I might have known! You mangy pile of dung, get back into the fight and show some mettle.” Ivypool winced at the sound of a heavy blow and a high-pitched shriek of pain.
Several heartbeats passed, and at last Ivypool realized that Mapleshade wasn’t coming back. Swallowing her fear, she emerged from the ferns and padded up to Tigerheart. The ShadowClan warrior sat grooming himself, passing one paw over his ears; he glanced up casually as she approached. “Sneaking around, Ivypool?” he mewed.
“Just looking for you,” Ivypool replied carefully. Tigerheart had seemed to lap up what Mapleshade was telling him; if he really agreed with her about destroying all the Clans, he was a dangerous enemy. “What’s this about Dawnpelt?” she asked. “Dovewing said you tried to warn her at the Gathering.”
Tigerheart’s gaze raked over her contemptuously. “Are you worried I said something about what happened with Flametail? You shouldn’t be. I haven’t told Dovewing anything—not for your sake, but because I don’t want her to know what you did.”
“I didn’t do anything!” Ivypool hissed, her neck fur beginning to rise.
“Only because I stopped you,” Tigerheart growled.
Ivypool’s claws worked in the cold, dark grass. “It was a test! What could I do?”
“Nothing could justify you destroying my brother’s spirit,” Tigerheart retorted.
Ivypool knew that he was right. But there’s no way I can tell him. I have to hide the fact that I’m spying for ThunderClan. “So what’s all this about Dawnpelt?” she prompted.
Tigerheart hesitated. “Dawnpelt blames Jayfeather for Flametail’s death in the lake,” he meowed at last.
“That’s ridiculous!” Ivypool exclaimed.
Tigerheart shook his head, his hostility swallowed up in sadness. “You don’t know what it’s like to lose a littermate,” he told Ivypool. “You want to blame anyone, anything. Not just a crack in the ice.”
Ivypool felt a claw-scratch of sympathy. I couldn’t bear it if I lost Dovewing. Then she reminded herself that Tigerheart had been listening to Mapleshade’s tirade. She couldn’t trust him. He doesn’t deserve pity!
“I don’t know what Dawnpelt thinks she can do against ThunderClan,” she went on aloud. “Or maybe you’re thinking of bringing her here?”
“That’s not up to me,” Tigerheart replied.
“I’m sure you could put in a good word for her,” Ivypool suggested mockingly.
Tigerheart didn’t react. Before Ivypool could say anything else, the ferns parted again and Hawkfrost emerged into the open.
“There you are, Ivypool!” he hissed. “Come with me. You’re keeping the other apprentices waiting.” He turned and padded off without waiting for a reply. Ivypool winced at being called an apprentice. But why should I care? she asked herself, shocked. Do I wish I were a Dark Forest warrior?
Padding after the dark tabby tom, Ivypool wondered if the Dark Forest had anything to do with Sol turning up. There’s something about Sol that I don’t trust. Especially with all the stories the elders tell about the time the sun vanished! Maybe the Dark Forest is plotting to hide the sun again.
Gathering her courage, Ivypool sped up until she was walking beside Hawkfrost. “Do you know Sol?” she asked, trying to sound casual.
Hawkfrost twitched an ear. “Who?”
“Sol,” Ivypool repeated. “The cat who arrived in ThunderClan five sunrises ago. He was here before, when the sun vanished.”
“Ah,” Hawkfrost mewed. “That was after my time in RiverClan, but I know what happened. What about him?”
“I just wondered if he had… er… ever been here.”
Hawkfrost paused, narrowing his ice-blue eyes as he gazed at her. “So, you want to know if Sol is a true Clanmate?”
“Yes,” Ivypool mewed, trying not to flinch under that freezing gaze. “Something like that.”
The dark tabby tom hesitated before he replied, as if he were wondering how much to give away. “Sol is a welcome presence in ThunderClan,” he meowed.
That means Sol is very bad news, Ivypool realized. Too scared to ask any more questions, she followed Hawkfrost until he halted at the edge of a stretch of marsh. Four other cats were waiting there, belly-deep in mud and bristly grass. All of them turned as one, watching as Ivypool and Hawkfrost approached.